2021 was my first year investing in crypto. I started off buying and holding assets in Coinbase, but I knew I was missing out on an entirely different set of benefits by keeping my coins in an exchange instead of where they belonged -- on the blockchain.

The problem was that I was terrified of moving my money from a system I trusted to one I knew nothing about. Mostly, I was scared of making a misstep during a transaction and sending my funds off into the abyss -- gone forever with no customer service line to retrieve them.

I spent more than six months telling myself, “I’m gonna take the leap. I’m gonna learn how DeFi works, and I’m gonna get into Crypto Raiders.”

Crypto Raiders, at the time, was an up-and-coming NFT and utility-based RPG game that I had heard about from Nat Eliason. I didn’t know many details, but everything that dude touches turns to gold, so I knew it would be worth checking out.

But, I was still too scared to try. I kept putting it off until the Christmas holiday break when I had two weeks off work to finally dive in.

Everything they say about that first DeFi transaction is true.

It took a few hours of research on Google, the Crypto Raiders help pages, and a ‘DeFi Orientation’ course (also Nat’s doing) to familiarize myself with DeFi enough to make my first on-chain transaction.

I was moving USDC from Crypto.com to my newly-created MetaMask wallet on Polygon. Just a couple hundred dollars -- nothing crazy -- but enough to make me sweat.

After that first transaction was successfully completed (as confirmed on Polygonscan), I felt way more comfortable making more moves on the blockchain to acquire a Crypto Raider NFT, snag some $RAIDER and $AURUM, and start playing the game.

It was awesome.

Yeah, it was a ton of learning which made me feel uncomfortable and kind of like an idiot, but it was 100% worth the effort.

Getting past that first DeFi transaction unlocked a whole new world for me.

Since then:

• I’ve gone DEEP into Crypto Raiders and get super excited every time they announce a new feature, which they’ve been doing pretty much every week in 2022

• I’ve familiarized myself with DAOs and have started liquidity pooling and yield farming to increase the value of my cryptocurrencies

• I’ve taken yet another leap, this time into mirror.xyz to start my writing career on Web3

Every new step becomes more comfortable than the last, and I just keep getting more and more excited about where this technology will take us in the future.

How to Make Your First DeFi Transaction

All the magic happens after that first transaction. Here’s how I did it:

1. Educate yourself

If you’re starting with absolutely no knowledge about crypto and blockchain technology (like me), first you’ll want an overview of what it is and how it’s organized. Here are the resources I recommend, some free, some paid:

• Nat Eliason’s DeFi Orientation. A paid course but walks you through the entire process step-by-step.

• Coinbase Learn. Free resources created by Coinbase to teach you the basics.

• Binance Academy. Also free, similar to Coinbase but with different topics.

You only have to spend an hour or two learning about the basics before you know enough to dip your toes into DeFi. The real knowledge happens after you make your first transaction and dive into the DeFi sandbox.

2. Create a MetaMask wallet

Next, we’ll create your very first DeFi wallet. Head on over to MetaMask and follow the prompts to download and install the browser extension. Then, follow the instructions to create your wallet and secure your private keys. THESE ARE SUPER IMPORTANT. Make sure you pay attention to the video and secure your keys in a safe location.

3. Create a Crypto.com account

Most of my crypto-purchasing I do on Coinbase just by preference. However, making your first transaction is MUCH cheaper (lower gas fees) on Polygon than Ethereum. Crypto.com makes it easy to withdraw your purchased crypto directly to your MetaMask wallet on the Polygon network.

Crypto.com can only be used as an app on your phone, so go to your phone’s app store, download the app, and create an account.

4. Make a small purchase in USDC

USDC is what’s called a stablecoin and is pegged 1:1 to the US dollar. It’s what I used to make my first Polygon transaction, and it’s what I recommend others use as well.

For this exercise, $10 in USDC should be very affordable and you won’t be upset if you happen to somehow lose it.

5. Withdraw your funds to the Polygon network

Go to your Crypto Wallet on Crypto.com and select ‘Transfer’.

Then, ‘Withdraw’ -→ ‘External Wallet’.

Add your wallet address from your MetaMask account here and make sure to select ‘Polygon’ as the network.

You’re going to be sending your $10 in USDC from your Crypto.com account to your wallet, which means the funds will be transferred from the Crypto.com exchange onto the Polygon blockchain, where they will reside in your wallet.

6. Verify the transaction on Crypto.com

After making the transaction, go into your USDC balance on Crypto.com and look at the history. It should show your recent $10 purchase, and it should show:

Withdraw USDC (Polygon) 10 USDC - Pending

Depending on the network congestion, this transaction could take up to a few minutes to complete.

Once it says ‘Completed’ your funds have left Crypto.com and are on the blockchain making their way to your wallet.

7. Verify the transaction on Polygonscan.com

Lastly, go to polygonscan.com and copy/paste your wallet address into the search bar. There you’ll find the transaction you just confirmed on Crypto.com.

Again, wait a few minutes and you should see your funds arrive into your MetaMask wallet.

Boom. You just made your first DeFi transaction.

Now is when all the magic happens

That first transaction feels damn good once it’s complete. After that, you’ll be able to start using your funds and your wallet to interact with DeFi and all the cool DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) on the blockchain.

But, that’s for another day.

Now that I’m on mirror.xyz, I’ll be sharing a ton of new articles here on how to start using DeFi and more importantly, how to use it to further grow your digital wealth.

Best,

Jason